Short trip, almost to Grand Canyon

Dori came to visit over the Christmas Holiday and one thing she wanted to see was the Grand Canyon. We left on Sunday the 20th with high expectations. About 80 miles out we got onto a twisting road over some mountains when we started smelling smoke. Eventually we figured out that the rear tire (new and diff brand) was rubbing...still not sure of on what, there was a lot of rubber on the rear wheel, bags and diff. But it looked like it was a ridge that was scrapping off so we continued. While we knew it would be cold we had heated gear and were not camping. When we stopped for the night, about 4pm, it was almost dark, there was a lot of snow on the ground and ice on the road, not so good and not expected.

In the Morning the bike started fine but it took awhile to get to proper idle speed. We were still about 60 miles to the Canyon. About 20 miles into the ride and finding more ice and snow, my warning overload went off and cancelled further movement North.

We turned around, road West to the Calif border, but didn't cross, and turned South. We went to Lake Havasu and checked out the London Bridge. Yes, The London Bridge that you sang about as a kid. It was bought and moved there in 1971.

We then road home. Got back after dark, after losing the accessory circuit with our heat....but was fixed at next gas stop...just a fuse. And then with less than 20 miles to go I thought the rear tire had worn thru and blown out. But after stopping and checking found that it was the road surface causing the swerving. Whew home, now to find out what is rubbing.

Trip Cancelled

Well, I kept waiting for my brother to show, he never did. So eventually it became to late for this trip. Next year, maybe Mar-May I will make it.

Getting Ready

I want to leave for a month long trip thru the south of TX (see the alamo finally, thru Georgia and SC to Hampton, VA then the northern route back to Chehalis, WA, and then down the west coast.

But I have to have the drip watering system working properly before I can do this. I'm making Progress on it but its one thing after another. Also not sure if I have to add more plants. And if so how to get them here, its difficult sometimes with just the motorcycle.

AZ Civil War battlefield trip

Battle Site behind Dairy Queen

Pacacho Mountain

Today was the day to go to the site of the only battle fought during the Civil War in AZ. The site was Pacacho Pass, about 110 miles from Buckeye. It was a nice ride, the temp never got over 100F. I knew there was supposed to be a monument at the site the bodies were thought to be buried at. When first reading about it you don't think much of a battle fought with less than 40 men? But to the three that died it was as important as Gettyburg. When I got to Pacacho Pass I found there was a state park so I rode over to it. The ranger told me that yes the monument was there (but 6$ to go in an see it) but that this wasn't were the battle was. The state of AZ in its wisdom decided to move the monument to the park rather than protect it where it was. He did tell me where the site was, out behind the Dairy Queen but you can't get to it. What a waste, a historical site lost and the burial site lost. I rode home in a funk about it.

many days combined

well the house didn't close on time, they were having a hard time verifying that I really do get soc sec. Even though they had 1099's, letters etc. So I drove to las vegas and stayed with Bruce and Marsden. After the house finally closed I drove the wrong way back to Buckeye, thru the Mojave and roasted, again almost heat stroke, could have paid for it big time. Then a problem with keys, another 100 miles in 110 degree which was cooler than the mojave, oh yea I had forgotten my cool vest at B & M's. Anyhow I'm here and alive so I will start getting things done.

Oh the total time for las vegas to buckeye to phoenix to buckeye was 8 hrs in 110 plus degrees on a motorcycle, about 425 miles.

Arrival in the Valley of the Sun?

Today was to be a liesurely 415 mile day. So I got up at 6am, had breakfast at the motel and was on the road before 8am. It was hot but was going according to plan until Flagstaff,AZ. Then the thunderclouds appeared. About 10 miles South they found me. I stopped and put on my hvy gear and within 10 min was out of the storm. 40 miles later, burning up, I stopped and put on the light gear. Guess what??? You got it, another storm got me and it felt like freezing rain but I just kept riding and was out of it 10-15 min. This happened twice more before I reached Phoenix. Once I got there I met up with Brian and did the walk thru on the house, a tree has fallen down since looking at it but such is life. I go in at 9am tommorow to sign the final papers so by noon I should be ahomeowner again. For good or bad. :)

That isn't a bush behind the m/c that is the tree on its side.

Oh, my ongoing motel story. I found a very nice comfort inn at a good price. It looked to me from the coupon map to be 20 miles from Buckeye....nope, it was 50 miles so I rode another 100 miles to do the walkthru and return. Total for the day over 514 miles.

My realtor Brian is in the pic with the house/valkyrie.

Into the Valley of Death rode the 500

After waking at 3am thirsty i was unable to go back to sleep so I loaded up. It had rained during the night. Within 5 min there was constant lightning to the north and south of me. " cannon to the left of them volleyed and thundered". So I thought i would luck out, no lightning in front of me. Then a large strike down the road in front of me and the waterfall started. But I was out of it in about 30 min. The whole time The Charge of the Light Brigade was going thru my mind.

To be in the flat lands in the dark of night with constant lightning is very impressive.

I stopped for breakfast in Amarillo, Tx (after 280 miles) at the home of the 72oz steak feed. You have 60 min to eat the whole thing to get it free. I meet Larry, a harley rider from Huston there and we shared a table.

After that i went on to Albuquerque, NM and stopped. Got a nice room and went to Panda Express for dinner. 581 miles today. And as I finish the thunder is rolling.

Today was a very long day...covered 745 miles. Finished up in Shawnee, OK. about 25 miles short of reaching Oklahoma City.

The weather was cool going thru TN and Arkansa but in western Arkansa to Shawnee it was like being in an oven. I didn't think I was drinking enough and was worried about dehydration and heat stroke. But I did pass the test at every stop :)

My big mistake of the day was at the end of the ride. I stopped at a Motel 6 instead of going into OK city. Never again to a motel 6. It was horrible. mold in the bathroom and when I woke up at 3am thirsty, I found there was no glass in the room.

Off Again

I left today from Hampton, VA, on my way to Buckeye, AZ. I am buying a house there and have to do the walkthru and sign the papers. I moved most of what I have earlier and put it in storage. What is left Dori will ship to me.

I was going to leave yesterday but things happen. I forgot the camera case in the bike so I will add pics next time I update. Hey I remembered.

I was planning on riding further and camping. But the weather wasnt looking good and I got tired and hungry. only rode 436 miles, not the 700 i was hoping for, maybe tommorow? I plan on being on the road by 6am...we'll see how it works. Forgot to mention that I stopped in crossville, TN.

Friday Return home to Hampton

Today was to be our last day. Kips real estate agent called and said there had been paperwork e-mailed to him that needed to be signed and back today.

But Dori found out there was another happy place (REI) close to our route and off we went. Kip didn't buy anything and Dori couldn't buy much because her motorcycle was already packed to the gunnels, almost.

Rode home and once again........you got it......beat the rain. On our whole trip we had one night without rain. And Dori wanted me to put up the tent without the fly..."It will be cooler"...but experience won the day...er night.

Thursday to Baltimore? and beyond

Todays plan is to ride into break camp, ride into Baltimore to see the USS Constellation (a civil war sloop) and then start back south. Once more the plan had some problems.

We found the Constellation thanks to GPS but no parking except for $20 for 2 bikes. We decided that it wasn't worth $60 to see the ship. So decided to swing by it again so Dori could at least look at it but the roads were horrible, actually unsafe for a motorcycle. Their construction/repair practices are bad beyond words. We headed out of town and south. Stopped at a Panda express for lunch and while there I found there was an REI close by. Spent the afternoon at REI, Doris happy place. Then went to a county park camp ground at Burke Lake, VA. A couple on day 1 had told us about it.

We meet Jeff for dinner at an awesome Greek/Italian resteraunt. Lots of good food.

Then we beat the rain back to our tent, but not by much.

Wednesday To DC by strange vehicle

The camp ground runs a shuttle into DC at 9am and picks you up at 5pm. It was packed. We went to the Air & Space museum, American History museum, to see Old Glory.....what an awesome flag. To the Natural History and then to the American Indian museum. We were beat by the end of this. Did I mention the heat? It was HOT. Notice two things in this trip, heat and rain....AAAARRGGGHH.

While at the Smithsonian Mall there was a lot of Police cars, ambulances, fire trucks and helicopters....Later we found out about the security guard being shot. Crazies are everywhere.

Back to the camp site and drove out to Arby's for dinner...to go. The clouds came in, temp dropped and once again we got back just before the rain.

We ate in our tent and were glad that we had brought chairs and that they fit in our tent.

Tuesday onto Maryland Birthday Day

Today was a liesurely jaunt to the KOA camp ground located between Washington, DC and Baltimore. It takes us a couple of hours to load up in the morning. The riding was great. We have been going thru Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland, crossing back and forth.

The plan was to get to the camp ground, setup early and relax. So much for plans. We were there and setup by 3:00. So far, so good. We found a Chinese buffet. Food was ok but the staff sucked big time. As we left the buffet we could hear Thunder. Back to camp as fast as possible. Got there just in time to get our gear in the tent and then the sky opened up on us. Massive lightning and thunder. We were set up among the trees and it sounded like it was hitting close. Dori did some screaming and I saw some strange ball lightning. Did I mention Happy Birthday Dori? Happy Birthday!!

Day 2 Antietam and Harpers Ferry

Looking to get out of the heat. Found the C&O canal on the way to Antietam.
Then to the Antietam Battlefield. Watched a couple of good films on the battle and then drove around the battlefield. It was to hot to walk much.

Burnside Bridge

It was as all battlefiels are, impressive and awe inspiring.

Bloody Lane

After the battlefield we drove to Harpers Ferry to look at the old town. Again it was still to hot to walk around much.

Recognize this from the movie "Gods and Generals" ?

Then we rode to a KOA campground where we stayed the night. The camp ground and the people were nice but the actual tent sites were railroad gravel (very sharp) and they put a hole in our ground cover. It started to rain hard and Dori went out into the rain (to get her rain gear out of the trunk)and stubbed her toe on a railroad tie.

June 2009 Dori's Birthday Trip to DC

Packed and Ready to Go.

Sunday we packed up and headed up past Richmond to Bealton to see the Flying Circus.....alas no more Spads or Triplanes. Now they just fly WWII trainers but still fun. And HOT, HOT and HOT.

Where is my chute?

After the show we went to the George Washington Natl Forest outside of Front Royal to camp for the night. They had the bathrooms locked. Closed for the season the sign said...what season did they plan on opening for? No water either. Didn't pay either. Dori found that it is possible to go thru the night without a glass of water...but it won't happen again. Those pills were hard to swallow.

It didn't rain, this will be shown to be important.

Sunday May 24

Back to Hampton....had a great time....And both of us wished that we were still on the road. We covered about 1500 miles and stayed in our new tent 3 times. The gear all worked good.

Saturday May 23

Today we rode back to Rocky Mount, NC and saw Theresa again.

Friday

We rode the Dragon twice, went to the Foothill Parkway and The Cherhola Skyway. Had lunch at an all you can eat pizza and salad place, it was good. Kip found out today the bank had accepted his offer on a house in Buckeye (a Phoenix suburb). So it was a good day. The motel was about half empty because of riders leaving before the holiday weekend. I told Dori that it would probably be a quiet Friday, Wss I ever wrong. About 8pm after the motel/store was closed the guys from Conneticut starting getting mini bikes out of their trucks. For the next two hours it was absolutely hilarious. They blocked off the entrances and set up a race course. It was a blast.

Dori got her bike pin striped and had the name of her Valkyrie lettered on. Ro'ta, "she who caused turmoil".

Thursday

Today we rode the Dragon 4 times, two round trips. On the first trip we got stuck behind a semi that should not have been on the road, He had to stop and backup, took both lanes on blind turns, and was just lucky not to hit someone.

As we exited the Dragon on the TN side we stopped at a porta poty. Dori's bike wouldn't crank and kip had to push start it. We rode into Tn a little ways to where Kip remembered a m/c repair shop from his last trip thru here. Got it fixed for $20. Only had to push one more time before Dori realized the kill switch was turned on (to the off position).

Kip ended the day very tired.

Had a great time talking to bikers from all over the country that evening.

Weds

The advantage of not riding last night is that we saw a place offering (for a price) helicopter rides. As neither of us had ever been on a helicopter we couldn't pass it up.



Arrived at Deals Gap motorcycle resort that afternoon. The motel was full but only 2-3 tents. Relaxed and had a beer. Tommorow we ride the Dragon.

Tuesday

Stopped at Doris cousin's, Theresa, in North Carolina last night. Off to a late start today but it was well worth it, a good breakfast.

Stopped in Ashville, NC for the evening, didn't want to push into the night with lots of twisty riding to get to the Dragon.

May 2009 to "The Tail of the Dragon"

Monday May 18, 2009 Getting ready to leave for the Dragon, A road that runs from North Carolina to Tennesee, US-129, motorcycle nirvana.